Holden Arboretum growing more than flowers and trees with expansion

More than just wildflowers sprouted this year at the Kirtland-based Holden Arboretum.

Fertilized through the generosity of more than 100 donors, Holden -- the nation's second-largest arboretum -- simultaneously undertook several projects.

Some of them were large and some of them not so big, but all of them underscore the arboretum's mission of plant-science studies while enhancing visitors' experiences, said Holden CEO Clem Hamilton.

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"It's taken four years of planning to get to this point, so none of this has come about suddenly," Hamilton said during a recent tour of the grounds.

"And our board has been very supportive."

So too have donors, along with Holden's approximately 3,600 members, most of whom are linked via their proximity to the 3,400-acre institution, Hamilton said.

In all, this year's efforts cost about $3.5 million, with much of the physical labor being done in-house, said David Desimone, the arboretum's public affairs spokesman.

"And we've been ahead of schedule and on budget," Hamilton said.

Among this year's keystone projects is the expansion of the arboretum's rhododendron garden, easily one of its most popular venues.

Here, the project has unfolded by not just sinking a bunch of woody shrubs into the ground and saying "voila," but designing the layout in such a way that it will prove both candy for the eye and tickling to the mind, Hamilton said.

The reason, Hamilton said, is because the expansion was planned, designed and executed so that education would go hand-in-hand with displaying lovely growing things.

"That's revolutionary thinking in our business," Hamilton said.

And the portal from the visitors center to the new addition will be a grand mall-style entrance way called a tree "allée."

"That's just a fancy French word for an alley," Hamilton said with a chuckle.

At the throat of the allée, where it joins the new demonstration/educational rhododendron garden, stands a guesthouse-style building constructed as a comfort station.

"It will be the grandest restroom in the Greater Kirtland Metro area," Hamilton said, again chuckling.

Yet Hamilton said the seriousness of the projects, each fostered to continue with the arboretum's reinvigorated focus on both plants and people.

"Within the past several years, our focus on conservation and ecology has expanded -- evolved from being just a passive-style museum to an active community partner," Hamilton said.

"What we want to do is present opportunities for those who desire to learn more about those important issues as well as for those who simply want to enjoy a walk with nature."

On the educational front, Holden has not only taken up the shovel, but also clutched the hammer and saw.

It did this by gutting and then renovating the arboretum's former maple-syrup-making sugar bush into an educational meeting house.

Here, the arboretum's staff gutted the former rough board structure's interior and added one large classroom and two smaller ones.

This renovation is being called the "Working Woods" building.

Another bit of improvement went into the refurbishment of the visitor center's 7,000-volume Warren Corning library, enabling a more friendly and comfortable visiting experience, Hamilton said.

A component of this smaller -- but still important -- project was adding floor-to-near-ceiling windows and providing Wi-Fi access, all overlooking the butterfly garden.

"People can bring their laptops and lunch and enjoy a view much better than they could find at a Starbucks," Desimone said.

Offering an even better opportunity for personal reflection is the arboretum's all-new "meditation point," a hiking trail cul-de-sac that terminates with a series of wooden steps and a pair of platforms.

Meditation Point is anchored to the rim of a deep gorge, heavily wooded on all sides and above, located a 15-minute walk from the visitors center.

"I know because I walked it and timed it myself four times," Hamilton said.

This project was funded entirely by a former Holden board member/former Cleveland Museum of Art board member and named after the late Bob Bergman, a one-time CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

"Mediation Point has been a hit right out of the gate," Hamilton said. "And it takes advantage of a piece of property that had been largely overlooked."

Yet the Holden Arboretum is not going to rest on its arbor laurels, either.

The institution has thus far raised $6.5 million toward a targeted goal of $7.8 million.

All the funds are intended for a plethora of projects.

These include the erection of a deer-exclosure fence surrounding the arboretum's entire 250-acre core area that includes the visitors center, the rhododendron garden and the corporate offices.

Planned for renovations as well are Corning Lake and Locus Pond, both of which have silted in and are heavily encroached upon with aquatic plants.

And for people, the arboretum will begin installing in 2014 its Canopy Walk -- a bridge that will span a gorge and place visitors into the very treetops they've only been able to see from the trunk up, Hamilton said.

"That," Hamilton said, "is going to be very cool, a really exciting experience."

Thus, Hamilton said, the Holden Arboretum is moving from "just plans to plants and people."

"And we didn't keep any of this under wraps, either; that's helped to keep everyone in a 'wow' mode," Hamilton said.